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> Hypothetically, if I were, then as an employer I might be more interested in the guy who stuck it out working with the government at Apple.

One of the principal drivers of the positive effect on career prospects is the publicity this sort of public gesture would generate. Sure, all else being equal, many may prefer the engineer that sticks with the company. But all else is not equal. This particular gesture would generate a lot of publicity tied to the engineers eligibility for hire. Sticking with the company ends the story and would not likely garner nearly the same level of personal publicity, if any.

I'm not making any sort of value judgement as to whether this would be an ethically good or bad thing for an Apple security engineer to do. I just don't think they will really be risking much because enough people will view it as an attractive public display of personal integrity that s/he would have her/his pick of jobs. It would also be an ideal opportunity to launch a security consultancy.

The move isn't completely devoid of personal risk, but the risk seems to be overwhelmed by the opportunities that it would generate in my estimation. That is to say, it would be a good bet, and far from a true self sacrifice.



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